Indestructible Super Mug To Save Humanity

prostoalex writes "Next time a ceramic mug falls on the ground, you won't have to buy a new coffee:"A team of undergraduates at the university in Socorro designed a ceramic mug that can fall 15 feet onto concrete pavement and still hold a full cup of java afterward without leaking."" Thank god I can sleep easy at night ;)

Bah.

[TripMaster Monkey]

When I first read the summary, I thought these kids had designed some new interesting ceramic material that would prove to have many practical applications. After all, that's what the contest is for...

From TFA:

Contestants generally try to design mugs out of high-tech materials so they won't break.

But the New Mexico Tech team used a different tactic...making part of their mug expendable, to save the rest. In short, they cheated.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm all for thinking outside the box...after all, I'm the one whose egg drop [pitsco.com] design in high school incorporated a parachute, ensuring my egg could survive a drop from any altitude. I was the clear winner, because I too 'thought outside the box'.

Did I get a commendation for my cleverness? Did I get a write-up in USA Today?

No. I got an F, despite there being no rules whatsoever prohibiting parachutes (although I hear they wrote in that rule the following year).

These New Mexico Tech students 'thought outside the box', and in doing so, completely subverted the whole point of the competition. Using this strategy, they managed to net second place, and they get a newspaper article for it.

Again, bah.

Pics

[kevin_conaway]

Here is a different article with pictures of the mug [abqtrib.com]

Re:Crumple Zones & the Lazy Man Maneuver

[PFI_Optix]

Knowing this, if I saw an empty glass falling, I knew I had one bounce to try and save it but the bounces weren't always too high. Years of hacky sack training on sipas finally became useful. Now, there is a move I was taught that we called a "lazy man" that involved kicking the foot out but actually using the ankle movement to kick the bag up into the air. There were a few times when a glass dropped and after the first bounced I lazy manned it up and caught it and I was a god for 10 minutes at least in the back of the kitchen. Sure, there were times when it just looked like I was booting a glass into the wall but it was worth it. I always wondered if those saved glasses would ever get another bounce if they dropped again.

I'm going to venture a guess here. The bottom of the glass is the heaviest and strongest part, especially on restaurant glasses made for heavy use and frequent washing. It stands to reason that the glass would turn so that the bottom hit the ground first. The bottom strikes the ground unevenly, recoils, and the glass is thrown into a spin. When it strikes the ground again, it's with the much more fragile side of the glass.

Re:excuse me, you dropped your coffee

[CastrTroy]

I have a mug that won't break either. Mine is made of metal.